5 books I need to read before the films come out

"Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different."
― Stephen King

Anna Karenina. Les Miserables. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Great Gatsby. On the Road. The Hobbit. The host. The raven. The mortal instruments. Thirteen r3asons why. Cloud atlas. The lucky one. One for the money. The vow. The hunger games. Abraham Lincoln, vampire hunter. Breaking dawn. Life of Pi. World War Z. Is it just me or has 2012 been a huge year for books into film? Some released, some still to come in what little is left of this year and, already, a few queued up for 2013. I rarely have hard and fast rules. Mostly because 1) I'm too lazy and 2) life's too short to be that inflexible. As much as possible, though, I try to live by the following commandment: Thou shalt not see the book-of-the-film without having read it first. I try not to break it because, I'm sure, somewhere a fairy dies when I do. These days, though, I find myself having to read at a furiously quick rate just to break even with things I even vaguely think I might want to watch. I can't keep up. And yet...and yet, here I am, with a list of more books I need to request/read before their celluloid equivalent is due. Luckily, some of these still don't have a set cast yet, so I can (kinda/sorta) take my time.   Don't forget, for the next few days we are all about the 12 Posts of Christmas. This means that I'll be throwing all sorts of Top 5 lists at you every day up until Christmas in an effort to seduce you back into libraries/reading. Or something like that.  

5 brilliant movies based on graphic novels/comics

List by Julia, Natalie, Renee, Clint and Danielle

"Don't worry, miss. I've got you."

"You've got me? Who's got you?!"

~ From Superman : the Movie

Ask a bunch of librarians for their favourite graphic novel/comics-inspired movie, and you get some wildly different picks. Some of us are superhero blockbuster fans, some of us go for indie classics, some of us like the action, and some the rich mythology accompanying the iconic characters. When I saw the Avengers (the first time), it made me want to dive into the comics and find out more about the backstory. Libraries are perfect for this - DVDs, comics, anthologies, compilations, animations... your one-stop shop for Comic Book Month!

Top 5 tearjerkers to make you happy

List by Jo (Jo is the fabulous editor of our monthly What's On eNewsletter and provides a great view of what events are taking place across Auckland Libraries)

My friends and I have all agreed there’s a lot of romance about sad movies, as in, we love them!! Wasn't it Aristotle who said a good cry "cleanses the mind?" It's no accident that many of us are addicted to the catharsis points of said movies, which move us to weep, which purges the toxins (kind of the same effect as ingesting antioxidants), which then elevates our mood. So, to continue our tribute to the 2011 NZFF here’s a list of five films that will lift your spirits by first making you sob.

Top 5 DVDs I kid myself I'm actually going to have time to watch while on annual leave

List by Tosca

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I'm on annual leave this coming week and I have a stack of cookbooks and fiction (romance, murder mysteries, historical fiction, steampunk etc.) to keep me more than amused. Between that and catching up with mum, seeing dad in hospital, visiting my grandaunts in Kaitaia (my mum's Ngai Takoto and that's where her dad's from), catching kaimoana and trying to soak up the sun (without catching sunstroke which I've never yet managed to do), I'm sure I'll have more than enough to do. But just in case I don't, I'm taking 5 DVDs with me. I sternly told myself that five was my limit and that none of them were allowed to be Supernatural season one, Supernatural season two, Supernatural season three, Supernatural season four or Supernatural season five. (My obsession with Dean and Sam Winchester borders on the obsessive/possessive). It was touch and go for a moment as to whether or not I'd cave and take them, anyway :) My final selection is a combination of movies and tv shows. I figure I'll try the first episode in each series, that way if I can't stand them then no harm no foul. Just a quick list.

Top 5 books-into-movies for big kids

List by Digital Services (Tosca, Danielle and Clint)

'Turn around/Look at what you see/In her face/The mirror of your dreams' ('Neverending story', Limahl)

'Is it a kind of dream/Floating out on the tide/Following the river of death downstream?/Oh, is it a dream?' ('Bright eyes', Simon and Garfunkel)

We in Digital Services are big kids at heart, and believe me, the length of our 'short' list for this category proves it! We have a selection of movies that creeped the bejeebers out of us as kids, as well as some more recent movies that surprised us pleasantly with their watchability - y'know, when we watched them with *actual* kids!

(There was also a short 'short list' of movies included for gratuitous and less-than-noble reasons, hello, The Rock, I'm looking at YOU 'Race to Witch Mountain'...)

Honourable mentions: Peter Pan; Stardust; Jungle Book; A series of unfortunate events; City of Ember; Bridge to Terabithia; The Spiderwick Chronicles; the Harry Potter movies; the Narnia movies (excluding the old version of 'The silver chair'); Charlotte's Web.

Top 5 most requested books that are also movies

List by Natalie

"Film lovers are sick people."
- Francois Truffaut

The fabulous Natalie (yes, Natalie of our Star Wars top 5 list fame) was knee deep in reports today, being the first of the month, and very kindly gave me our top 5 most requested books that are also movies. 'Cause we're caring/sharing people (go on, you know we are!) we've posted it here for all to enjoy. Is it just me or are the first 4 titles all girly books that are guaranteed tearjerkers? Where applicable we've also posted the link to the film :) YAY! Thanks, Natalie, for grabbing the titles.